2013 Ordered - Need Some Opinions

Ok so I have been waiting and waiting and just ordered my 2013 Tacoma Access Cab manual 4x4 4cyl. It will not be a true offroad truck. I am a hunter and fisherman who needs to be able to get through some " less then desirable roads " and have an leg up on bad weather. This is also my computer car. So, what I am looking for is lift and tire recommendations with mpg in mind. I deff know I will be loosing mpg by changing anything from stock. I am just looking for a happy medium with a little bit of an aggressive look without turning the truck into a dog. I was thing 1-2 in lift . But I'm clueless with tires. Don't think I want more then 10.5 wide. What do u guys think. I drive 35 miles each way to work. Thanks in advance.

I don't know what constitutes "less than desirable roads" where you are, but my stock '09 4x4 does great on any "less than desirable roads" in my hunting and fishing area. I doubt that a lift will have any significant benefit in bad weather. But then, I am an old geezer (55 years of 4-wheeling) and am more concerned with reliability and economy than the looks of my truck.

As far as less then desirable, a lot of the roads are dirt and when the rain comes it gets pretty ugly fast. I just want a little more clearance with a bigger tire without putting mpg in the shitter. I am concerned because of the 4cly. Would like to keep it in the 20mpg range. Any suggestions.

As a general rule, wider tires result in lower mpg, all other factors (diameter, pressure, + ?) being equal. Taller ones could very well drop the mpg, too. For my purposes, I would stick with stock size tires, maybe go with good mud and snow tires in load range C. However, M&S tires most likely will cost in mpg on the highway. I would carry tire chains for bad situations. Most of the back roads I run are not bogs when they get wet. There are usually ways to avoid the deep ruts when things get muddy. When it gets really bad the FS usually closes the areas anyway.

Depending on your driving habits and the traffic in your part of the world, your should still get better than 20 mpg with slightly taller tires. There are plenty of threads in this site where folks have discussed their mpg losses with lifted trucks. Maybe someone who has tried it will chime in.

Congrats on ordering your new 2.7 Binny. My 2.7 is pretty much bone stock and I am viewing my truck alot like yours - not a full on off roader, but a 4x4 than can get me through some sticky situations.

My Tacoma has performed excellent so far in the Washington snow and heavy rains. I have stock Dunlop tires on and they have done pretty well. I do want to change to a better tire.

For tires I am just about resolved on a BF Goodrich All Terrain in either 265 70 r16 or 265 75 r16. These will go on my stock steelie rims.

Eventually I hope to put a 3" Old Man Emu Lift on which will require new UCA's to allow proper adjustment of the caster for my tire alignment.

I'm averaging close to 23 mpgs and gas mileage is very important to me and I am figuring I can stay around 20 mpgs with the changes above.